Associations between cephalometric values and radiographic osseous temporomandibular joint diagnoses in an adolescent orthodontic population

Abstract

AIMS: To identify skeletal features and relationships associated with the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) osseous temporomandibular joint (TMJ) diagnoses in an adolescent population undergoing comprehensive orthodontic treatment, and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method for predicting mandibular growth. METHODS: Fifty-nine orthodontic patients were included in the study. Pre-treatment and post-treatment diagnoses of each TMJ were previously made by Anderson1 using the RDC/TMD. For each subject, a lateral cephalometric radiograph was extracted from existing pre-treatment and post-treatment cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. Each radiograph was assessed with cephalometric analysis and staged using the CVM method. Statistical analyses were performed with one-way ANOVA and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The pre-treatment mandibular plane angle (FMA) and Wits appraisal had a fair degree of positive correlation with the pre-treatment TMJ diagnosis. However, no associations were found when the change in TMJ diagnosis over the course of orthodontic treatment was compared to cephalometric variables or measures of growth, nor did the pre-treatment cephalometric measurements predict changes in the TMJ diagnosis. The pre-treatment CVM stage was inversely correlated to mandibular growth observed during treatment, with no growth seen in subjects with a pre-treatment CVM stage of 6.